


Mer-maid—um, man. Definitely man. Mer-man.

by thilesluna



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Derek is shipwrecked, M/M, Stiles is a mermaid, mermaid!au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-07
Updated: 2013-01-07
Packaged: 2017-11-23 23:59:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 960
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/627974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thilesluna/pseuds/thilesluna
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Derek is shipwrecked and he has an unlikely rescuer.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mer-maid—um, man. Definitely man. Mer-man.

“What are you doing out here?”

Derek sat upright so quickly that he almost fell off the piece of wreckage he was using as a raft. He scrambled to keep his balance and whipped his head around to see who has spoken. There was no one there. “What? Wh-who said that?”

“Me,” the voice said from down near Derek’s feet. He felt the cold ocean water splash up on his feet. When he turned slowly, he caught sight of a young man bobbing along side his raft.

“Who are y-you?” Derek asked, chattering as the wind picked up and blew through his soaked clothes.

The boy cocked his head and regarded Derek. “Stiles.”

“What’s a Stiles?”

“Stiles is my name, dummy,” the boy—apparently Stiles—said with a grin.

“W-were you on the b-boat?” Derek questioned, folding his arms across his chest. He knew almost everyone aboard but he didn’t recognize this boy.

“Boat? What boat?” Stiles said as he looked around the water. He glanced down at the plank Derek was laying on. “Is this your boat?” he asked skeptically, cocking an eyebrow in the other man’s direction.

“N-no!” Derek growled. “There was a bigger—n-never mind. If you’re not from the boat how did you get out here?” His raft tipped precariously and a rush of cold water sent a wave of shivers though his body. “You shouldn’t be in the water. It’s freezing.”

“It is?”

Derek fought the urge to roll his eyes. “Yes. How c-can you not kn-know?”

Stiles grinned. “Must be cold blooded or something,” he laughed. If there was a joke there, Derek didn’t get it.

“I d-don’t know if there’s much r-room—“ the man said, gesturing to his piece of wood.

“You’re offering to let me on?” Stiles asked.

“Well, yeah. Y-you’re going to fr-freeze otherwise,” Derek said, trying his best to make room without being tipped into the water.

“Stop! What are you doing, you idiot? You’re going to fall in,” Stiles cried.

“I c-can’t just let you st-stay in the water,” the man insisted.

The boy splashed a bit, twitching nervously before throwing his hands up in the air. “I—Jesus, stop moving around! God, I’m fine. Can’t really get out of the water anyway.”

“Wh-Why?”

“Well it could be multiple reasons. Maybe I like the water? Or maybe it’s that I’m a mythical creature that’s half fish and half man?” Stiles shrugged.

Derek blinked at him. “What.”

“Mer-maid—um, man. Definitely man. Mer-man,” the boy sputtered. “I’m a mer-man? Yeah. I know. Weird right?” He set a hand on the wood and swung his…tail…up out of the water, the sunlight catching off it briefly before it disappeared back into the water.

“But—“

“Yep,” Stiles said. “You’re totally freaking out right now, aren’t you?”

Derek frowned. “Well, f-first my ship crashes, then I drift a-around for God kn-knows how long without a single w-word from my crew, and now I’m t-talking to a mermaid—“

“Mer-man.”

“Mer-man, wh-whatever. So I’m p-pretty sure that I’m dead,” Derek finished.

“You’re not dead,” Stiles said. “But I am sorry about the shipwreck.”

“Wh-why are you s-sorry?”

The mermaid squinted at Derek and shrugged. “Weeeeeell, I might have accidentally caused it?”

“What?”

“I’m kind of a clutz by mermaid standards. I try to say hello to traveling ships and sometimes, _sometimes_ for reasons that are in no way malicious or anything, I accidentally make them crash?” Stiles said, not meeting Derek’s eye. “I don’t do it on purpose and I totally like, save everyone after? I don’t know.”

Derek blinked again. “S-so you sunk my ship?”

“ _Technically_ , your shitty driver did that. I just distracted him a little bit?” the mermaid said. “No need to put the full blame on me.”

The man huffed. “I should have kn-known better than to let S-Scott steer.”

“So, I’m going to do my whole rescuing thing now? Is that okay?” Stiles asked.

“W-what?”

“Well, I’m going to tow you to shore where you’ll get warm clothes and all that jazz and I will be a story no one ever remembers. Just a figment of—hey, you never told me your name—“

“Derek.”

“Right, Derek. Just a figment of Derek’s imagination after being lost at sea,” Stiles said, starting to pull the make-shift raft along in the water. Derek grabbed on to the edges to balance himself.

Derek studied the back of the mermaid’s head. “That kind of sucks.”

“Huh?” Stiles asked, turning to face Derek while still moving them through the water.

“No one b-believing in y-you. Even a-after you save everyone,” the man explained.

Stiles’ face fell. “Yeah, I guess. Gets a little lonely. No one really ever wants to hang out with the half fish dude even if he saves their life. Still waiting on that first kiss, you know?” he babbled, blushing.

The trek toward the shore was quiet after that. Just the sounds of Stiles and the raft cutting through the water. It was night by the time Derek could make out the lighthouse, flashing brightly on the shore of Beacon Hills. Stiles disappeared from the front of the raft only to pop up in the back, closer to where the human was sitting.

“Th-thank you,” Derek said, breaking the silence.

“For what,” Stiles laughed, “sinking your ship or rescuing you?”

The human felt himself smiling despite his situation. “Both I g-guess? Though I wouldn’t n-need to be rescued if y-you hadn’t sunk my sh-ship.” Stiles just shook his head and pushed Derek up on shore.

“It was nice to meet you, Derek,” the mermaid said, reaching out a hand.

Derek considered it for a moment before leaning down to press a quick kiss onto Stiles’ lips.  “Nice to meet you too, Stiles.”


End file.
